BOTANY IN 1841 135 



period in tracing natural affinities, and in the pursuit of morpho- 

 logical comparison, branches which would seem to provide the 

 true basis for some theory of Descent, the Dogma of Constancy 

 of Species still reigned. It was to continue yet for 20 years, and 

 the most active part of the life of the first Director of Kew was 

 spent under its influence. 



Meanwhile great advances had been made also in the 

 knowledge of the mature framework of cell-membrane in plants. 

 Anatomy initiated in Great Britain in the publications of Hooke, 

 Grew, and Malpighi, had developed in the hands of many 

 " phytotomists," the series culminating in the work of Von Mohl. 

 But it was chiefly the mere skeleton which was the subject 

 of their interest. Eight years previously, it is true (1833), Robert 

 Brown had described and figured the nucleus of the cell, and 

 approached even the focal point of its interest, viz. in its relation 

 to reproduction. But the demonstration of the cytoplasm in 

 which it was embedded was yet to come. In fact, the know- 

 ledge of structure omitted as yet any details of that body which 

 we now hold to be the "physical basis of life." 



The period immediately succeeding 1841, was, however, a 

 time pregnant with new developments. The study of proto- 

 plasm soon engaged the attention of Von Mohl. Apical growth 

 was investigated by Naegeli and Leitgeb. The discovery of the 

 sexuality of ferns, and the completion of the life-story by Bischoff, 

 Naegeli, and Suminski led up to the great generalisation of 

 Hofmeister. And thus the years following 1841 witnessed the 

 initiation of morphology in its modern development. On the 

 other hand, Lyell's Principles of Geology had appeared and 

 obtained wide acceptance. Darwin himself was freshly back 

 from the Voyage of the "Beagle," while Sir Joseph Hooker, then 

 a young medical man, was at that very time away with Ross 

 on his Antarctic voyage, and shortly afterwards started on his 

 great journey to the Himalaya. These three great figures, the 

 fore-runner of Evolution, the author of the Origin of Species, 

 and Darwin's first adherent among biologists, were thus in 

 their various ways working towards that generalisation which 

 was so soon to revolutionise the science of which Kew was to 

 become the official British centre. Well may we then regard 



